Ladies,
We were dragging down the server with our active participation, so we've closed the "IVF Thread #3" and are continuing our discussion on this one.
Welcome to anyone doing IVF, thinking about IVF or post-IVF!
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Lots of luck to you ladies! Hope this thread brings lots of babies! Thanking of you all.
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I'm curious about people's decisions on how many embryos to transfer. I know since octomom, ACOG has guidelines about ethical transfer numbers, so in most places depending on your age, 3 is the max.
Has anyone transferred three? Has anyone gone against the recommendation of their RE? Has anyone regretted their transfer numbers? What factors did you weigh?
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@yellowbeach: thanks for starting the new thread!
Link here to IVF#3 in case anyone needs to reference it as the ball gets rolling here. I know I probably will to help keep everyones status straight!
http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ivf-thread-3/page/101#post-2599475 -
@yellowbeach: To answer your question, my RE absolutely won't transfer more than one PGD tested embryo for me. Not sure what his policy is in general. I believe he'll only do two or three untested under specific circumstances.
As far as transferring three, I THINK @apex did that a couple years back? (Hi Apex
Been a while!)
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Yes, shockingly we did transfer 3 at one point!
Here are my stats:
Fresh IVF 1 (age 34):
(1 embryo transferred, 10 embryos frozen)
FET 1.1:
(2 embryos transfered, 1 stuck - DD 
!)
FET 1.2: , but chemical pregnancy (2 embryos transferred)
FET 1.3: (2 embryos transferred)
FET 1.4: , but chemical pregnancy (3 embryos transferred, 1 frozen left)
Fresh IVF 2 (age 37): , but chemical pregnancy (1 embryo transferred, 3 frozen)
FET 2.1: (2 embryos transferred, currently pregnant with DD , 1 frozen left)
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@yellowbeach: my clinic will transfer up to 3. I would never do it though! The chance of triplets is low... but it's there. I absolutely wouldn't want high order multiples because of the risk to the babies. I've always transferred two. My husband and I were ok with parenting twins. Although having been pregnant with twins and losing one I don't think I will ever transfer two again.
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@yellowbeach: My RE let me decided if I wanted to transfer 1 or 2. A few weeks before the transfer, I did consider transferring 3, but never even asked. I was okay with twins. I ended up transferring 2 at my FET last January.
I would ask your RE, they might advise against 3.
A lot of REs do follow eSET, though. https://www.shadygrovefertility.com/treatments-success/advanced-treatments/elective-single-embryo-transfer-eset
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@bluestriped bee: I was more asking out of curiosity than anything... our RE recommended only transferring 1, so that's what we did, and I'm
now at 5w2d. We sent 9 to the freezer for FET later down the road.
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@yellowbeach: I had 3 frozen embryos my last cycle and I thought about transferring all 3 cause I figured the chances that all were normal and would implant was low. (Plus the added complication that my RE was moving from CT to NY so I figured not to have any left over in CT). He agreed to do it if I wanted to and was willing to accept the risk. But in the end I decided to adhere to the guidelines and transfer max of 2.
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Sprinkling some baby dust on the new thread! IVF #3 brought me so much comfort and hope. I'm sure #4 will too!
@yellowbeach: Our RE recommended transferring two, based on age. I fell in the 38-39 age group where the recommendation was to transfer two, except in the case of exceptionally poor quality and then they would allow three. We never considered going against the recommendation but then again, we only had two. One blast was 5d and another 6d -- both "pretty good" quality. We followed the recommendation and ended up with one sticking. Now 32w!
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@yellowbeach: Gotcha. Yeah, I almost asked the RE but thought they would think I was crazy. It was my first IVF. I can see if I had prior losses or unsuccessful IVF why they would be okay with more than 2. Oh, I had 7 embryos frozen (now 5) so I was fortunate in having the ability to transfer more.
Congrats on your
! Wish you a happy and healthy 9 month pregnancy! 
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@yellowbeach: my RE reccommend transferring one more frozen embryo than was transferred during a failed fresh cycle. Since we transferred two during a fresh cycle that failed, he would have suggested transferring three frozens. We only had two frozens so we transferred just the two and I'm 37 weeks pregnant with my baby girl now. If I had had three frozen embryos, we probably would have transferred them. I was never as optimistic about most girls in this thread about all three sticking. I know there is a chance it can happen, but I never believed the odds were in my favor. I also didn't want to do a FET with just one of my least quality embryos if I could avoid it.
@GreenThumb: it's so great to hear you are pregnant with your second. Do you think you will use your one remaining frozen embryo sometime later and try for a third? Also, thanks for distinguishing between your IVF and FET. Sometimes girls say that's had 5 IVFs but I wonder if they mean 1 IVF and 4 subsequent FETs.
@Amorini: have you done three fresh IVF cycles? I'm so glad one of your embryos stuck! I forgot how close my due date is to yours!
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@PurplePumps: I'm sorry that you were disappointed with your 2 embryos, but that is wonderful that they are 2 healthy boys!
@yellowbeach: My RE was planning on implanting 1 because of my age, but now that we are doing a FET and my clinic freezes in pairs, we are implanting 2! We will be over the moon with either 1 or 2 little miracles! Thanks for starting the new board!
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@agold: About your three cycles question, I had to re-read your and my posts to figure out why you were asking! I think I get it. I only did one fresh cycle alongside you. My comment about #3 and #4 was about the HB IVF threads... I'm a little nostalgic about IVF Thread #3 because I remember it started right around the time my (first and only) fresh cycle was about to start. Oh the agony and the ecstasy that's recorded there, in my memory.
Hope that makes sense now what I was referring to.
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The big push in most Australian clinics is SETs only. Less risks and healthier singleton pregnancies.
Rooting for you all on this new board!
Here's my history, for reference. (As you can see, mostly SETs)
Fresh IVF 1 (age 26):
(1 embryo transferred, 0 frozen)
Fresh IVF 2 (age 27): (1 embryo transferred, 2 frozen - Georgia born 2013 )FET 1.1:
(1 embryo transferred, miscarriage @ 11 weeks 
)
FET 1.2: (1 embryo transferred, miscarriage @ 6 weeks )
Fresh IVF 3 (age 30): freeze all, 8 frozen
FET 3.1: (1 transferred, 5 remaining)
FET 3.2: (2 transferred, 0 remaining)
Fresh IVF 4 (age 30): freeze all, 8 frozen (de ja vu)
FET 4.1: (1 transferred, 0 remaining)
Fresh IVF 5 (age 31): freeze all, 8 frozen (AGAIN)
FET 5.1: (1 embryo transferred, miscarriage @ 6 weeks )
FET 5.2: (1 embryo transferred, currently 30+2 weeks pregnant. )
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@Amorini: ha! Yes, that makes perfect sense. I'm sorry. I'm so dumb these last few weeks.
thread #3 was great for me, too, because that's what I joined when I did my IVF too!
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@yellowbeach: Regarding the number of embryos, I was pretty adament to only transfer one. I had a friend who transferred one in November and it split, so she had twins a month or so ago. That was my worst fear since we already have DD and preferred to only have one more. I was actually more scared to transfer two and have one of those split (creating 3!). If this latest FET wouldn't have worked; however, the RE suggested transferring our last two embryos together since they were of lesser quality. But realistically, transferring more than one doesn't really increase the odds of pregnancy. My rate went from 64% with one to 68% with two, but with two, there was a higher percentage likelihood of twins.
I'm going to follow along here as I want to support all these women going through IVF. This was a great resource and source of support to me during our long process.
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Hi all just checking in. I also only have ever transferred one embryo and my RE has only briefly talked about 2, never 3.
I just had my endometrial scratch/biopsy (thanks for the recommendation @Northstar!) and it was thankfully totally painless. I'll get another one in about 10 days when have my first u/s to start off PIO estrogen. FET still scheduled for 9/7.
Something crazy going on is DH just had 2 great interviews for jobs across the country where my parents/brother and his family lives. We have mixed feelings about moving so far and making such a big change in the midst of TTC. Does anyone have experience with living far from where your frozen embryos are? Just thinking down the line if this FET is unsuccessful I'm a bit stressed what we would do. But being close to my mom and brother again would be amazing!
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@NorthStar: I think that if I have to turn to IVF again in order to have a second baby, I will only be transferring one embryo at at time. Not that I only want one more child (we will likely use up all embryos we have), but because I see how my body has handled carrying one baby. I still don't regret transferring two the first two times. I just wanted to be pregnant finally at my age and didn't want to have to do multiple frozen embryo transfers. I didn't care about multiples since I didn't know any different.
@Mrs. Pajamas: I would proceed with the job interviews. I don't have experience living far away from frozen embryos. But I was TTC long enough that I wouldn't hold up on other things in life while betting on anything TTC related. When are the interviews and when is your egg retrieval scheduled? It could be possible for your husband to delay the start of his new job in order for you to finish up the egg retrieval and a fresh transfer. Subsequently, you could always do local monitoring and fly back for a FET. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!!
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@Mrs. Pajamas: When I was a medical student, I spent a few weeks at a RE clinic. We had 2 patients that I remember who moved out of area. There's a process for shipping your embies to your new facility if you really want it. Like everything with IVF, costs $ for sure, but an option to explore depending on your situation.
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@Mrs. Pajamas: I live in TX and my embryos are in TN. I do my monitoring appointments locally and travel for transfer. It's a bit inconvenient, but doable. I've also known women who have paid to have their embryos shipped to their new location. If I'm remembering correctly it's around $500-$1k. They ship them in their own small tanks.
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@Mrs. Pajamas: We have swapped clinics & arranged for embryos to be transported between them. Costly but doable!
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Wishing you all the best of luck during your journey. IVF isn't easy, but it's well worth it when you have that miracle baby
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@Mrs. Pajamas: we weren't far away from our embryos but decided to switch clinics. I rented a tank, picked up the embryos and dropped them off at the new clinic. I can't remember how much it cost, but I feel like between 500-1000.
Also, my clinic for one of my FET rounds was over an hour away from my work so we did all the bw monitoring at a local lab Corp. They just marked the bw as STAT and I got the results the same day as if I had gone to the actual clinic.
Like others have said, I ttc long enough and had enough failed cycles that ultimately I would not delay anything due to ttc. I had for years. I finally left my job I had been dying to leave (and delaying), lost my amazing health insurance that covered infertility 100%, paid out of pocket for a Hail Mary FET with questionable embryos and wound up pregnant from it right before I even started my new job, which wound up resulting in me not qualifying for FMLA. So all in all not ideal. But you know what? I would not change any of it and it all worked out even if inconvienent!
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We have a 3 month old from our first FET. We didn't do PGS but have 7 frozen embryos- does anyone know if they can do PGS on embryos that have been frozen? Also, any input on when to start the FET process for baby #2? Not sure what all is involved, if there's a certain amount of time recommended to wait after breastfeeding, etc.
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@Rousseae I'm waiting for my PGD results on frozen embryos now so it's entirely possible! Personally we decided to wait until our DD was 1 to start thinking about TTC. We NTNP for 3 months then had a consult with our RE when DD was about 16 months. Obviousy it's a totally personal decision based on what you want for spacing, when you feel ready again, etc. I was ready to TTC when DD was 6 months but I know that is unusual. Just enjoy your baby!
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@rousseae: I would say, from my own experience, start your FET as soon as you are mentally ready. We were successful our first Ivf so I figured our first FET would be too, especially since FETs are typically more successful. However, it took 18 months and 3 FETs for us to get our second miracle baby. Had I known it would take so long, I would have started sooner since I wanted my kids closer together.
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@Rousseae I agree with @Bloved. I thought it would be way easier (we also got our BFP/DD on the first try with a fresh cycle) and I wish we did PGD before. We have had 2 failed FETs so far trying for baby #2. I think the likelihood of a big batch of frozen embies all being "normal" is not that high. It took me a while to see that but I wish I had that information a long time ago.
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@Mrs. Pajamas: @Bloved: Thanks for the advice! I've been nervous that even though we were successful the first time, the second may take several attempts. Super glad to know that screening is possible for previously frozen embryos- are you screening your entire batch of embryos and then refreezing the ones you don't transfer, or are you only screening the few to transfer?
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@rousseae: I've been thinking about when to go for another FET for baby #2. My RE suggests weaning 3 months prior to transfer. I'll probably wean DD by the end of the year when she's 14 months so I can go back on fertility meds.
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@rousseae: You can thaw, biopsy and refreeze the embryos. But my RE said that the thaw and refreeze lowers the chance of survival of the next thaw to 80% from 95%.
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@Mrs. Pickle: @PurplePumps: Good info, thanks! We transferred 2 embryos the first time around and although only 1 took, I really don't want to transfer more than 1 this time around- don't think I could manage twins.
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Hello all. I'll be jumping back in again soon - we've just gotten a tentative FET date of September 15th to try for baby #2. We have three frozen embryos in storage from the donor egg IVF cycle that gave us our son (he's turning six months old this week). I'm hopeful that we'll be successful with one of those three embryos - not sure if we will pursue additional donor egg cycles if all the FETs fail or if we'll just decide to remain happy with our little family as is. Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone in this thread trying to build their families.
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@momazon: Oh wow, how exciting!!! Wishing you all of the luck in the world!
Will you do eSET or more than one? -
@Amorini: We will eSET for all remaining tries. Our son was from an eSET.
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@rousseae: I also thawed and biopsied a frosty earlier this year. I actually had PGD'd them all when they were first retrieved, one was normal (my now son) 6 were abnormal and one of them came back inconclusive. Before diving into another retrieval I wanted to see if that one inconclusive was normal. It wasn't!
But in my case they biopsied, froze, thawed, rebiopsied and refroze. So you can definitely do it
As for when to try, my RE was ok with it 6 months PP. I was not. Lol. He really urged me to do a bunch of retrievals and do a batch PGD on all of them around 10 months PP. (I have a chromosomal abnormality that makes my odds of a normal embryo like 10-15%, which is why he wanted a bunch to work from). I still wasn't emotionally or mentally ready.
So now my son is 23 months and I'm ready, but only doing one retrieval and hoping for the best.So I would ask your RE now if they have any recommendations so that when you feel really really ready you can put them into action (ex: weaning, if that is one).
ETA: good luck and welcome!
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Hey ladies- it's been busy and stressful, so I haven't done a good job of updating. We are in the midst of IVF#4. We're doing the same protocol as #3 (microdose lupron with testosterone and estrogen priming, and growth hormone) which gave us 5 day 1 embryos, now frozen. I had a AFC of 17, 5 on left, 12 in right, and a right-sided 12mm cyst, which he rechecked three days later and was 15 by 12mm. He said it could affect recruitment but it was unlikely. I started stims and had my first scan yesterday (day 5). Left side had 4-5 growing, largest was 9.2mm. Right side the cyst had grown to around 22mm, with 2-3 follicles responding. Yikes! Estrogen 250, progesterone 3.2. He said I probably ovulated, which might shut everything down, but studies of emergency fertility preservation in cancer patients show that random starts yield about the same number and quality of eggs. He gave us the option of canceling. We are banking/freeze all, and I had decided to start my new job late so I could do this cycle off work. (New job is 50 minutes away from clinic.) we decided to continue and recheck Friday morning. I'm so anxious- I really hope the follicles continue growing. Besides the cyst, the growth is similar to last cycle- I had 4 growing on left, 2-3 on right, with at least 2 over 10mm. This time the largest was 9.2mm, but I did one more day of estrogen priming.
September is a busy month with a new job and a work conference. Also, we realized I'm probably dairy intolerant which could be causing my immune issues, and I haven't tried a timed intercourse month with treating all our issues. I'm really hoping we can get another 5+ day 1 embryos in the freezer, so we could try for a month or two with all the new treatments we've found (prednisone, blood thinner, dairy free, etc.) please pray that the meds are enough to keep the follicles growing! I really don't want to cancel!
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@AmeliaBedilia: saying lots and lots of prayers for you
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@AmeliaBedilia that's a lot to take in girl. I'm glad you are off work. Will be sending positive thoughts for your cycle!
@SweetiePie did AF ever show up?
@Winnie 13 where you are you in your cycle? I think we're sort of on the same timeline? Have you started BCP yet?
Been a while!)
(1 embryo transferred, 10 embryos frozen)
(2 embryos transfered, 1 stuck - DD 
!)
Hope that makes sense now what I was referring to.
)
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